Filipinas Rising (The Philippines Women's Football Thread)

Nordic Universities normally do not have mandatory participation in lectures etc and as long as you manage the Exams and any assignment all should be OK, but it do vary a bit between different Unis and faculties.

 

Subjects like Human Anatomy and later clinical rotations require you to be present while dissecting cadavers and examining patients but that might come later in the course. I think she started in late 2020 so maybe most of the early courses still rely mostly on books and other material you can catch up on by reading and watching videos and slides. Lab and clinical rotations require you to be present though.

 

"We are going to the World Cup not just to be there, but to compete"
“If we’re not aiming for the top, I don’t understand the point of actually preparing, trying your best, sacrificing, and all the things that you do to try and be at your peak.”
-Alen Stajcic, Filipinas head coach.

 

PHILIPPINE Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta Jr. is lining up more international friendly matches for the Filipinas, the newly-crowned AFF Women’s Championship queens, to boost their FIFA world ratings higher for a better draw in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup scheduled in October.

“The draw will be in October that is why we are trying to schedule more games for the Filipinas against opponents that are higher than us in the rankings so they, hopefully, will also improve their ratings,” said Araneta during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online Forum on Tuesday.

On the way to winning the country’s historic first major international football title, the charges of Australian Alen Stajcic toppled Asian football titans Australia, Vietnam and Thailand, which are ranked Nos. 12, 32 and 43, respectively.
By beating their higher-rated rivals, the Filipinas, currently ranked 53rd, can expect marked improvement once the latest ratings are out, which Araneta said would give the side a better spot in the World Cup draw barely three months away.

“Coach Alen told me that we only need four to eight points to go from the fourth to the third pot. This will help the Filipinas avoid facing the heavyweights early in the tournament,” the football chief explained.

“There has been an invitation from World Cup qualifier Costa Rica to play in Costa Rica and another from New Zealand. Those friendlies are now on the pipeline” bared Araneta.

The Kiwis and Costa Ricans are presently ranked Nos. 22 and 37, respectively, in the FIFA rankings.

 

The Filipinas win over Australia's U23 team will not be considered in the FIFA rankings because it is not their A side but the 4-0 win over Vietnam and 3-0 win over Thailand both of which are ranked much higher than the Philippines will help us move up the rankings by quite a bit. They apparently still need
a few more positive results against higher ranked teams to be placed in the third pot of the WWC draw in October though.

 

Eggesvik should ask Nadia Nadim how she managed to do her medical doctor.

 

It looked like she finished her studies after her playing days were over but it does sound like she did some preliminary med studies while still pursuing her pro career. By spacing her courses out, it is possible she was able to finish her med degree while still playing. She is 34 y.o. now.

Eggesvik is only 25 y.o. and can still have a long career in football ahead of her still.

One of the prospective players for the Filipinas Fil Brit Mayumi Pacheco is also a law graduate who is currently playing for Aston Villa in the English top tier.

I believe the PFF has reached out to recruit Pacheco but since the English FA is still calling her up to their U23 national team training camps, she seems to have declined for now.

"In July, though, 11 days after signing for Women’s Super League club West Ham United, the 22-year-old Pacheco graduated with a law degree from Sheffield University after three years spent on lectures, essays and exams while she simultaneously created a path for herself at the highest level of English professional soccer."

“For me, the biggest aim and my ambition, obviously after football, is to own my own law firm,” she says, “so that’s the journey I want to carry on with. I am quite fortunate that I can balance it with football.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/asifbu...a-trail-on-and-off-the-pitch/?sh=612a64217d4c

 

Nadim was in the Danish WNT that just failed to progress to the knock-out round of the Euros on Saturday.
And as far as I can see she qualified as a doctor in January 2022.

 

That is pretty impressive. Well many famous people in history have pursued multiple careers in different disciplines(polymaths) so I suppose it is not that difficult to picture someone today pursuing just 2 careers.

A dedicated young doctor would normally be finished with her MD in her mid 20's so Nadim must have spaced her courses out while pursuing her football career considering it took her until her 30's before she finished.

I am more impressed that Pacheco finished her law degree at 22 y.o. while simultaneously continuing her football career in the top tier in England.

 

Not taking away how impressive it is that she finished the law degree while playing, the Bachelor of Law in the UK is an undergraduate degree, which I will guess is what she finished. In the US there is no equivalent. There is the J.D., which is what one gets after US law school.

 

Ah Ok. I didn't know that the UK has an undergrad law degree.In that case getting a doctorate degree like an MD while continuing your football career is much more impressive.

I thought it was a JD(Doctor of Jurisprudence) since in the US the law degree you can get is a post grad degree which requires you to finish an undergrad degree first.

A J.D. also requires students to be in residence, full-time, for nine quarters of no fewer than nine credit hours per quarter which would prevent you from pursuing a full time professional football career simultaneously.

 

The PFF is pulling all the stops to help prepare the Filipinas for the WWC.

Aside from utilizing all the FIFA friendly dates, next year they plan to host a 4 team pocket tournament for WC bound teams prior to WWC to help them prepare on a stadium with natural grass surface just like the ones in Australia/New Zealand.

Both stadiums being considered have either 20,000 or 25,000 capacity much larger than the one they used for the AFF Women's Championship Final which only had 12,500 capacity that had a synthetic surface.

https://tiebreakertimes.com.ph/tbt/...ket-tournament-before-womens-world-cup/245718

 

Any chance of getting South Korea and Japan to be part of it?

 

This is for next year so I am not sure but I would guess that they will try to invite countries that would replicate the style of play of those in their WWC group.

Since countries from the same confederation don't usually face each other in the group stage that would probably mean teams from other confederations instead.

Besides they will have plenty of opportunity to face Japan and S Korea soon enough in the Olympic qualifiers after the WC is done.

 

Yes, she seems to have taken about twelve years for it instead of six (although I believe many do need a little bit more than the ideal six years).

 

If the proposed 4 team pocket tournament next year in the Philippines is successful in attracting strong teams and sells well, I hope it becomes an annual international women's football event like the Algarve Cup, the Turkish Women's Cup, the SheBelieves Cup, the Arnold Clark Cup, the Pinatar Cup, and the Tournoi de France.

 

At the end of this interview Sara Eggesvik is asked what she plans to do next with her club, she says she has her medical studies but she is not sure what to do next. She says right now football is so much more fun. The Women's World Cup is her target. She is going to be thinking about it.

 

In another interview Eggesvik also mentioned she is in her third year of med school which is suppose to start in mid August but because of all the traveling with the national team and the WC being her primary target she might not have time to pursue her medical studies for now. She still wants to become a doctor eventually but she is not in a rush to do so.

 

Yeah, it currently sounds like Eggesvik may take a break from studying until WC (timestamp 13:31). Hard to imagine she'd be content staying in 4th league when football is now her focus until next summer. Considering she made her international debut barely a month ago her previous plans likely are all in tatters.

 

Yeah she says going to the World Cup was her dream as is any footballer's. It is worth postponing any current plans to achieve that.

Many of her teammates have made the same decision, setting aside or at least putting on hold work, school, and personal commitments when necessary to achieve the same goal.

Coach Staj and his coaching staff treats them like professionals and expects them to train like one(even during breaks) with the trainers giving each player a training schedule to follow which they have all embraced.

Their fitness levels showed in the AFF Women's Championship where despite the grueling schedule, heat and humidity they showed no signs of cramping up unlike many of their opponents. They continued to press and score goals all the way to the end.

 

The best club in her region (Trondheim, where she is studying) is Rosenborg. They're currently second in Toppserien and will join the Champions League qualifiers in mid-August. If she had been good enough for them, I suppose they would have picked her up already. Instead Eggesvik played the last couple of years at the 2nd league club in the region, KIL Hemne, before stepping down to tier four, Malvik, where she now is. She needs to find a better club, and I'm sure her international selection has brought her back on the radar for many clubs in Norway. She could sign for a new club very soon. Top league football in Norway resumes in early August after the Euro break.

Fun fact: Sara Eggesvik made her Toppserien debut for hometown club Grand Bodø (north of the Arctic circle) at 17 back in October 2014, starting in midfield alongside Gunnhildur Yrsa Jonsdottir, who featured for Iceland in the Euros now, and played directly against Dutch star Sherida Spitse, then at LSK Kvinner.

 

Sara Eggesvik finished the AFF Women's Championship with 2 goals and 4 assists after 6 games played while playing primarily as an attacking midfielder. Her assist total is second only to the team's Captain Tahnai Annis 5 assists (who also scored 3 goals) who is the designated player for the team on corner kicks and free kicks.

Fil Am Annis btw made her name in Europe by playing professionally for Þór/KA of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna pri, the top flight women's league in Iceland, from 2012 to 2014 starting in 62 matches and scoring 19 goals for the club. She helped the club win the league title in 2012 and earned the club's 2013 MVP award. She has played at the UEFA Women's Champions League with the Icelandic club.

Annis is however getting older at 33 y.o. and it is good to see 25 y.o. Eggesvik taking on the corner kick and free kick duties when Annis is subbed out and providing another threat for the team when it comes to delivering assists to our players on offense.

Eggesvik's pairing with the technically gifted and defensively solid Jaclyn Sawicki(who has also played in Sweden for Assi IF back in 2019 before the Covid pandemic struck) has helped stabilized and solidified the central midfielder positions for the Filipinas.

 

I just did some research and found out that OL Reign player Fil Am Sam Hiatt attended a tryout for the Philippine team back when she was still a teenager.

Here is a pic of her with current Philippine women's national team players Jessica Miclat, Jessika Cowart, Chandler McDaniel and possibly Kaya Hawkinson when they were all still teenagers.

She is the one in the middle next to Cowart and Chandler McDaniel standing.





She is now a starter for the OL Reign in the NWSL who is part of the US national team pool(50 man provisional roster) but once upon a time she was a 14 y.o. teenager more interested in playing for the Philippines.

Nevertheless she still has not been capped for the senior team for the US so the PFF can still recruit her.

 

Staj breaks down his coaching experience and methodology after winning the AFF Championship his future plans and the favorite moments in his coaching career.



It even looks like Staj enjoyed the give and take and question and answer sessions as well.